A lot of memories are made on family vacations, and they're great once you get going. The problem is that getting ready is such a production.
You first have to decide where to go. That's a huge task with different people with many different interests. When you get that settled, you have to pack. Of course, you have to pack for the weather that you're leaving and you have to pack for the weather at your destination, which might be different. Then you have to figure out what's going to happen with the mail, the bills, and the dogs while you're gone. All car problems you've postponed fixing have to be fixed. You have to get the snacks together. You're going to need money, so it's off to the bank. Oh, and most important, you've got to fill the gas tank. There has to be enough gas to make sure you can keep going.
In Psalm 90:14 of the Bible, David prays this simple prayer: "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love." Well, David is a realist. He knows the reality of real life and that it's lived out in days. We don't have a life, we have days. He says, "Lord, every morning, at the beginning of each of these 24-hour things called days, I need you to satisfy me with your unfailing love." As the morning goes, so goes the day. It's like the old saying, "It's the set of the sail, not the force of the gale that determines the way you go." Our sail gets set in those first moments of the day.
This verse is saying that we need to fill our tanks with God's unfailing love before we start our trip through the day - and before we see anybody else. David echoes this in Psalm 143:8: "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love." In Psalm 59:16 he says, "In the morning I will sing of your love." We need to fill up with His love.
Each day is a long trip, with stress, surprises, and people pulling at us; and it's tempting to just take off on the trip without that time with Jesus, or cutting that time short. We can't afford that. We have to protect that time with Him. It's important to not just be around Him, not just read verses about Him, but make sure we touch His unfailing love and hear Him say to us, "I love you. I love you today. I love you no matter what." That's our emotional fill-up for our tank.
It helps to get on our knees for that - literally and physically. We should get on our knees and on our face as many people did in the Bible, and allow ourselves to not just be with a book but really be with Jesus. He's going to say, "I love you unfailingly."
You may not know where you stand with everybody else in your world today, but you can be secure in His love. There's one relationship in which you can totally unmask and totally be you. There is no fear of rejection, because His love is unfailing. Visit the cross every morning, and remember how loved you are. Park your doubts right there. You don't know what the day is going to hold, but you do know that someone loves you totally and that He has okayed everything that is going to come into your day. This is the day that not my boss, the weather, or my teachers have made; but this is the day my Lord has made.
You have too many demands in your daily trip to miss filling up with God's love for you. Be with Him intimately enough every morning to know His love. That's your emotional fuel - "Jesus loves me, this I know." The alternative is running out of emotional gas before your trip is over, so start each day with a full tank.